St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-19
A Sermon at the Cathedral by
the Well-KnoWn Prelate
Yesterday Morning.
The Observance Of the Sab
bath Was the Subject Of
An Able Discourse.
He Urges All to Make the Day
One That Will Uplift
Their Souls.
A Sermon Full of Broad Ideas
and Free From Narrow
Prejudices.

At high mass at the Cathedral yester-
day Father Fitzpatrick was the cele-
brant and Fathers Timothy and Glib
bons, deacon and sub-decon respect
lively. The sermon was preached by
Bishop Ireland, who based his remarks
on these words of the days gospel:
ana IL came to pass that when Jesus went
INTO the house of one Of the chiefs of the
PharIsees on the Sabbath to eat bread, that
tney We're watching Him; and behold q
certain man who had the dropsy was before
HIM. And Jesus answering, said to the
lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful
to heal On the Sabbath day? But they were
silent, and taking hold of him he healed Him
and sent Him away.
The bishop said: From the mention
made IN the gospel of the sick man
healed from bodily diseases by our
Lord on the Sabbath day we may nat
ufally conclude that spiritual healing
is properly the object of the Sabbath
day-a day of rest prescribed direct by
Almighty God in the old law and re-
newed by the church in the new law.
The object of setting apart this day of
rest is that we may have time and
opportunity to heal our souls, to sepa-
rate ourselves for time from the cares,
occupations and dangers of this
world aud ascend on wings
OF prayer into the higher and
Serener region of religious thought.
Inc day OF rest, Sunday, should be
hailed by the Christian with delight. for
1t brings him nearer to God, it brings
him into contemplation with the great
truths OF religion and sets before him
the hopes of eternity. IT'S our misfor-
tune, though necessity, that for six
days we must busy ourselves with the
things of earth. We must live, and in
order to live we must work, and to sue
ceed we must pay attention to what we
are doing. But while thus engaged, we
must not forget that we have an end i'm
view. We are all too much disposed to
be interested in the things of this world,
ana unless we are ON our guard we are
led to act and speak as if there was
nothing beyond this earth, as if all our
hopes were conferred here below. Hence
1t is that many dangers arise. Our pas
SlonS do not slumber, the demon is
active. We are apt to be taken I'M
aWareS, and without thought slide down
THE SLIPPERY PATH
to sin. And even if we be so fortunate
as to escape sin, we fall into a neglect
for the consideration of our higher end.
There are multitude of men who do
not wish to set aside all thought of
heaven. They will tell you, if asked,
we intend to save our souls"
The evil is, they take no time to think
of those things. They do not put to
themselves the vital questions: Whence
am L going? Whittier am I drifting?
What moral duties are imposed upon
me? With desolation is the earth made
desolate, because there is no one who
thlnketh at heart" If men, even out
side the pale of the church, were only
brought to think seriously as to their re-
lations with God, if they would give a
few days OF the year, a few minutes of
the day to look this question straight in
the face, there would be little unbelief.
Men have minds, and they will see
things if only allowed. Mems souls have
hopes, and all that is needed that they
be allowed to assert themselves. Things
would be well for religion if men were
only allowed to think. Who of us is
there that would commit mortal sin did
he have constantly before his mind the
terrible consequences of such an act?
Who would willingly barter away his
soul for pelf? Who would not choose
to be saint? Why are we not all
saintse The great cause lies in want of
reflection. We are taken up altogether
with the things of earth, and we drift
broad sea of worldly affairs. Hence, the
wisdom of God in setting aside
one day in the week exclusively for the
things of God. He requests but little.
only one day out of the seven, but God
deals with us mercifu1ly. He asks
only what is absolutely necessary for
US, and we should grant this little for
His and our own sake. Hence we
should prize Sunday beyond all things.
Ills true, we must suspend for little
time the business cares of this world,
but are there not obligations thousand
times stronger than worldly matters
and will not all these earthly things pass
away. We pride ourselves ON being
successful, but how long will this sue
cess last? Honors crowd in upon us for
while and then suddenly disappear.
Wealth we must leave behind when
death beckons us forward. Then why
labor for things that pass away so rap
idly. You hold out your hand to grasp
something and just as you are on the
point of Selling the object desired the
hand is palsied. Life, after all, is
nothing. In a decade or SO of years.
how many of us will there be who will
not be forgotten? The streets will be
thronged with busy life as usual, fes-
tivities will come and go, but we will
not be mentioned. Sunday is Gods
day, day of the soul and therefore
sacred. And we must love it and feel
with regret that the shades of evening
are taking it away from us.
SUNDAY IS GODS DAY,
hence our duty to worship Him on that
day and to mediate on these facts that
God is the supreme master of life and
death. and that we are His dependent
creatures. We live during the week as
if we were everything. We are but
creatures of day. Yesterday we were
nothing. To-day we are something, but
something of Gods gift. We must rec
ogniZe our dependence on Him by SOL
emn acts of devotion. Oh, how we
would pray did we only know the great
necessity for it. In the supernatural
order we cannot avoid sin or temptation
without Gods grace, and in the natural
law we depend altogether on His will.
In all these calculations that we have,
why, one smile from Him will give sue
cess when all the schemes of men prove
OF no avail. 1t is also one duty to medi-
tate seriously on what our lives are,
what the condition of our souls. Bust
ness men find it necessary from time to
time to examine their books, and at GER
tain times we call in physicians to ex-
anime us tosee whether or not disease
has crept into our bodies, insidiously,
and for the same season is it well on
Sundays to examine the conditions of
our souls to see whether we are gaining
OF losing in grace. And no Sunday
should go by that we may not be able
to say, swell, have examined my soul
and know its condition" That these
duties may be well fulfilled the church
forbids the performance of servile work
on Sundays and everything else that
would prevent the elevation of the soul.
Let us always be loyal to the commands
what seems to be the prevailing senti-
ment, that Sunday is day to make
money. Let it not be known that
Catholics would be carried on by this
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